Local Karate Club Wins Big at Regional Tournament

Students from Chatham’s Zanshin Dojo Karate Club brought home a lot of hardware from the 2015 Matsumura Challenge Martial Arts Tournament on Saturday, February 21 in St. Thomas, Ontario. The Chatham karate club sent 16 students to the tournament, which attracted competitors from all across the region, including competitors from Sarnia, London, St. Thomas, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Toronto.

Competitors were able to participate in up to four division: sparring, team forms, individual forms, and weapons forms. Chatham’s Zanshin Dojo brought home a total of 34 medals, with Cam Mardling winning the Junior Grand Champion Award for highest overall standings for his age group – a first for Cam and for Zanshin Dojo.

Zanshin Dojo’s chief instructor, Daniel Whittal, was thrilled with the results.

“These students have been training hard for months to get to this level of competition,” he said.

“Our karate club stresses good sportsmanship, hard work, and camaraderie – it’s nice to see all of these traits come shining through in a tournament setting. They’ve done Chatham-Kent proud.”

The Matsumura Challenge Martial Arts Tournament has been held annually in London or St. Thomas for decades, and has become very popular as a traditional, respectful and safe tournament. It is hosted by Gary Legacy, a 10th degree black belt in Shorin Ryu karate and the instructor of Whittal.

Zanshin Dojo holds classes for ages 4 to adult on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the gym at Sprucedale United Church. Their Spring Session starts April 7, and new members are always welcome. For more information, visit www.zanshindojo.ca.

Full results for Zanshin Dojo competitors are as follows:

• Kyle Stephens: Gold (individual forms), Silver (sparring)
• Fikunmi Kilanko: Silver (individual forms), Silver (sparring)
• Sofia Knowles: Silver (sparring)
• Jannik Van Sintern-Dick: Gold (team forms)
• Cam Mardling: Gold (team forms), Gold (individual forms), Gold (weapons forms), Silver (sparring), Junior Grand Champion
• Joel Mardling: Gold (individual forms), Bronze (sparring)
• Kamia Barnes: Gold (team forms), Bronze (sparring)
• Maria Whittal: Gold (team forms), Silver (individual forms), Silver (sparring)
• Sean Curl – Gold (team forms), Gold (sparring), Silver (individual forms), Silver (weapons forms)
• Patrick Hindmarsh – Gold (sparring), Silver (individual forms)
• Matthew Sterling – Gold (team forms), Silver (individual forms), Silver (sparring)
• Calvin Smit – Gold (individual forms)
• Nathan – Bronze (individual forms)
• Rochelle Deslippe – Silver (individual forms), Gold (sparring)
• Patricia Wright – Gold (individual forms), Silver (sparring)
• Oliver Pidgeon – Silver (individual forms), Bronze (sparring)